Yesterday in my Hotlinking section I mentioned the Compact Calendar put together by David Seah. One of the things I love about the Compact Calendar is how easily it fits into my Moleskine and how nicely it acts as a display calendar in the half dozen places I have them stashed.
Today on Lifehacker I spotted a new pocket of calendar called the "Thumb Calendar." The Thumb Calendar, by Adam Sporka, is an incredibly neat little design that looks ideal for popping into your wallet, hipster PDA or even your Moleskine.
All the way through college I never drank coffee. I tried once or twice but I just couldn't convince myself it was worth it.
When I started working full time (7am to 5pm) that changed. While I still don't drink hot coffee I find it absolutely necessary to have an iced-coffee every morning. Of course that creates a lot of problems.
I have not found a good way to make iced-coffee using hot brewing methods. Brew a pot of coffee - through it in the fridge and invariably you're unhappy. Buying an iced coffee every morning is even more trouble partly because of the money involved and partly because I end up buying a donut (or two) to go with it.
If you figure $4 a morning (for coffee, breakfast and a tip) times 365 days that's over $1400 a year at Dunkin Donuts!
I realized this just recently and immediately cringed at the wasted money. The good thing is it got me looking for a new way to fuel my morning coffee fix. What I found is called "Cold Brewed Coffee" and it's an incredible money saver for hot and cold coffee drinkers alike.
The system I bought (Toddy Cafe Cold Brew Coffee System) is extremely easy to use and makes a more consistent cup of coffee than any of my local Dunkin Donuts. If you're a coffee drinker looking to save money this year be sure to check it out!
I carry a Moleskine Notebook everywhere I go. In my own modified version of GTD I use it to keep track of all my projects and "to do's" and it doubles as a solid capture device. Along with my Space Pen my Moleskine is an indispensables part of my daily routine.
Besides my pocket reporter I also keep a couple of Large Moleskine Notebooks for other purposes as well. The most recent addition is my Moleskine Weekly planner - it's a great way to track all your major events and a solid way to keep a paper backup of your Online calendar.
One major problem with Moleskine Planners? They sell out fast. If you're looking to get a hold of one of these great notebooks now's a good time to grab them as there are many available on Amazon. Wait too long and you may not be able to get them until early next year!
Links to all the products are available above.
If you're a Lifehacker reader you may already be hip to this great Firefox extension. Better GMail is a collection of Greasemonkey scripts brought together as a standalone extension. While you can certainly install the scripts individually the extension offers a one stop supply which will work even without Greasemonkey.
Among the additions made by the extension are the ability to create folders in GMail (the one thing I really miss about traditional eMail), a status bar showing the current state of your GMail storage, and the ability to incorporate both Google Calendar and Google Reader into the GMail interface.
Head on over to Lifehacker and grab the extension to see what I mean.
Picking an email service took me several years. I've used tons of free e-mail services but it wasn't until GMail that I really locked in - sort of. Even now I still maintain a Yahoo! account for tracking special types of messages.
I'm currently a Verizon subscriber, previously n at&t one, but who knows where I'll be in a few years. While my cell phone is currently my primary phone, there are occasions where it's unreliable and I'm not just talking about reception wise - see I forget my phone at work or in the car A LOT! For some time I've been thinking about getting a SkypeIn number to make myself more reachable but I worried about providing too many numbers to my friends.
Enter Grand Central.
Despite still being in beta Grand Central provides an incredible amount of tools for it's users. One of the most powerful utilities that Grand Central offers is it's call forwarding. Once you've setup your free phone number you can set it up to forward to any other numbers you choose. Mine, for example, currently forwards to my cell phone and home phone - I'll be adding my SkypeIn line soon I think.
In the beta version users have the option to set certain forwarding rules based on incoming numbers. Users can also setup special ring tones and messages for their incoming calls. Want your family to get one message? Your friends another? Grand Central makes it happen.
One of the major bonuses that I also consider a major selling factor was the ability to manage your Grand Central account right from your computer. This is great for tracking messages and customizing some of the cooler features that are available.
If you haven't yet be sure to check out Grand Central and let me know what you think.
